Poetry and why

I have always had a fondness for poetry. When I was very young, I liked nursery rhymes, later at school I liked classical poetry, such as Rainer Maria Rilke or some of Nietzsche's works. Over the years, however, one art form has particularly appealed to me: music lyrics.

Some writers left a deep impact like Viktoria Legrand, Thom Yorke, Matt Berninger, Emily Sprague and Adrienne Lenker to name just a few contemporary ones.

For me poetry is the most fitting form of writing as it offers what I'm looking for when writing: It's short, and forces me to limit my word count, thus makes me think how I want to deliver meaning in the most concise but also most expressive way possible. It's a kind of puzzle in that way.

Their meanings are often open to interpretation, leaving room for the reader to empathise with them and have a personalised experience. When I read poetry, my mind wanders. Poems create a scene in my head where I'm vis-á-vis with the author and debate what they may have meant, opening myself up to views I've never seen before and eventually making them my own. Reading poetry means thinking about myself, challenging myself, daring myself to leave my comfort zone.